Priority is claimed to South Africa patent application no. 2003/4782 filed in South Africa on Jun. 20, 2003, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field
The information disclosed in this patent relates to a system to release a seatbelt in a vehicle automatically.
2. Background Information
A seatbelt, sometimes called a safety belt, may be viewed as a safety harness to secure the occupant of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result from a collision or a sudden stop. As part of an overall occupant restraint system, seatbelts may reduce injuries by stopping the wearer from hitting hard interior elements of the vehicle or other passengers and by preventing the wearer from being thrown from the vehicle.
While seatbelts are beneficial in protecting people from an initial collision, their restraining feature may pose serious problems should the vehicle catch fire, overturn, fall into a lake, or experience some other mishap. Worldwide, thousands of people including infants are trapped in their vehicles due to head on collisions, vehicles over turning, or vehicles catching fire.
Due to the immense force the body exerts onto the seatbelt unlocking mechanism during a collision, the seatbelt unlocking mechanism invariably is twisted in such a way that neither rescuer nor the trapped person can reach the unlocking mechanism. In the panic situation often following a collision, bystanders run around the vehicle searching for something to release the safety belt. It is during this time that accident victims suffer significant harm. What is needed is system to overcome these and other problems.